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![]() ***Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austenby Fay Weldon Reviewed December 6, 2003.
Carroll & Graf Publishers, New York, 1999 (First published in 1984). 155 pages. Out of print, but with limited availability on Amazon.com. Here is a novel written in the form of letters from a literary Aunt Fay to her niece, Alice, who is studying English literature and hopes to be a writer herself. Alice doesn’t see the point of studying Jane Austen and finds her books boring, petty and irrelevant. Aunt Fay makes a spirited defense of the value of Jane Austen’s works. In the process, she presents many facts about Jane Austen’s life and gives a wonderful introduction to most of her books, telling the circumstances in which they were written. Along the way, she also discusses the value of literature, the writing process and the life of a writer. This book has a fictional framework, but the meat of it consists of nonfiction essays on literature and writing and Jane Austen. Fans of any of those things will find it diverting, entertaining, and instructive. Reviews of books by Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice Northanger Abbey Reviews of books related to Jane Austen: Flirting with Pride and Prejudice, edited by Jennifer Crusie A Jane Austen Education, by William Deresiewicz Sense and Sensibility, by Joanna Trollope Northanger Abbey, by Val McDermid Emma, by Alexander McCall Smith An Assembly Such As This: Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman, Book 1, by Pamela Aidan Duty and Desire: Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman, Book 2, by Pamela Aidan These Three Remain: Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman, Book 3, by Pamela Aidan Austenland, by Shannon Hale Midnight in Austenland, by Shannnon Hale Jane Austen in Scarsdale, by Paula Marantz Cohen Jane and the Man of the Cloth, by Stephanie Barron Jane and the Wandering Eye, by Stephanie Barron Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House, by Stephanie Barron Jane and the Ghosts of Netley, by Stephanie Barron Death Comes to Pemberley, by P. D. James Pride and Prescience, by Carrie A. Bebris Suspense and Sensibility, by Carrie A. Bebris North by Northanger, by Carrie A. Bebris The Jane Austen Book Club, by Karen Joy Fowler For Darkness Shows the Stars, by Diana Peterfreund Keeping the Castle, by Patrice Kindl First Impressions, by Marilyn Sachs Copyright © 2005 Sondra Eklund. All
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